Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat

Today the weather is absolutely dismal and I got a bad grade on a paper yesterday, so it's no wonder that in my several post series on love songs, I have decided to begin with Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat." Appropriately, this is the first Leonard Cohen song I ever heard, and probably still one of his best, in my opinion.

It's a narrative, and one that is packed with bitterness and bittersweetness, that never transcened into actual sweetness. It tells the story of a man whose wife is seduced by his brother, but the song lies in the aftermath. Jane, the wife, is entirely absent from the song until the near end when she mysteriously wakes and sends her regards. Although, ostensibly, we should feel the worst for the narrator of the song, once Cohen sings that line, it's pretty clear that this song is simply filled with broken, messed up people. Each takes their turn as victim and each takes their turn as villain.

The emotional climax of the song, however, lies with the narrator. When Cohen sings, "What can I tell you/ My brother, my killer/ What can I possibly say?/ I guess that I miss you/ I guess i forgive you/ I'm glad you stood in my way" couple with "And thanks/ For the trouble you took from her eyes/ I thought it was there for good/ So i never tried" the listener is confronted with the full despair and resignation that Cohen feels.

I wouldn't be honest with myself if i didn't admit that the reason why i love this song so much is that it's just a plotless epiphany set to music (and minimal music at that). I only wish i'd written it first.

As for why it's making my dubious list of love songs, well, it's hard to say. I wouldn't like to be any of these characters, and all their love is completely dead at this point. It's also hopeless, everytime I root for Jane and the brother, and everytime they lose. But if you imagine the time that Cohen has tried so hard to forget, you get a clear picture of a love that has made every effort to transcend its limitations. That it didn't succeed in any way feels irrelevent.

Download: Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat